A wounded Lebanese soldier is carried to
a Red Cross ambulance after clashes with Fatah al-Islam group in Tripoli,
northern Lebanon, May 20, 2007. Lebanese troops battled al Qaeda-linked
militants based in a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday and 38 people were
killed in Lebanon's bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil
war. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
BEIRUT, May 20 (Xinhua) - Twenty three Lebanese
soldiers died on Sunday in a deadly fighting between the army and militants, the
Lebanese army here confirmed to Xinhua.
Local Arabia TV reported that a total of 48 people,
that is, 23 soldiers and 15 militants from the radical Palestinian faction of
Fatah al-Islam, along with 10 civilians had been killed during the day's
fighting, but the army officer only confirmed the death toll of the soldiers to
Xinhua in a telephone interview.
The fighting started at dawn after security forces
raided homes in the Nahr el-Bared refugee in northern Tripoli to arrest suspects
in a bank robbery happened one day ago during which four masked gunman robbed a
bank in the northern town of Amioun and made off with 125,000 U.S. dollars in
cash.
Some 30,000 displaced Palestinians live at the camp,
which the military is banned from entering under a 38-year-old deal.
Militants from the faction Fatah al-Islam then
attacked army posts at the refugee camp, where they are based. The fighting,
which involved tank and grenade fire, also injured some civilians, including
children, who were now trapped inside the camp, the TV station reported.
The Nahr el-Bared camp has been under scrutiny since
two bus bombings in a Christian area in northern of Beirut in February. Police
had arrested a number of members of the Islamic faction based in the camp in
connection with the twin bus bombings, which killed and wounded at least 20
people.
Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim told Al-Jazeera
television that the group was only defending itself.
BEIRUT, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A deadly fighting between
the Lebanese army and militants on Sunday in the northern city of Tripoli, which
has so far left 30 dead and thus becomes one of Lebanon's bloodiest internal
fighting since the 1975-90 civil war, arose concern for the country's stability.
Death toll from the deadly fighting between the
Lebanese army and militants from the radical Palestinian faction of Fatah
al-Islam around the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Tripoli rose to 30,
which includes 13 Lebanese soldiers, according to latest reports. Full story
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